Steelworkers take aim for November

by Denise Winebrenner

This article was reprinted from the August 10, 1996 issue of the People's Weekly World. For subscription information see below. All rights reserved - may be used with PWW credits.

PITTSBURGH - The 28th Constitutional Convention of the 705,000-member United Steelworkers of America (USWA), celebrated the union's 60th anniversary here this week by zeroing in on the achievements and goals of its membership.

Through rapid response teams, volunteer organizing committees and contract action teams, rank-and-file steelworkers are putting the "go" in their union.

Whether contributing to the unification of the USWA, the United Auto Workers and the Machinists or mobilizing thousands of steelworkers for demonstrations to bring Bridgestone/Firestone to the bargaining table, or ending union-busting by LTV, rank-and-file steelworkers are doing the job.

And when it comes to dumping the Republicans in November, the USWA has ignited a fire among its members.

"Corporate America has never, ever accepted our [union's] right to exist as an institution, not in this country, not in Canada," George Becker, president of the USWA told 2,500 delegates and over 500 guests in his convention report.

"We're creating rapid response. I called it internal organizing. How many of you are participating in the rapid response program out there?" he asked, as hundreds of hands shot up.

"It's amazing that this has caught on so quick and so hard," Becker said. "And the theory is simple. What we do is get an activist in the local union to lead this, not necessarily an officer, and then we help them set up a structure in the local so that they cover every plant, every department, every shift, every conceivable breakdown of the workplace. I'm saying that we can shoot [the issue] right down to the them on the shop floor."

"This is a watershed convention," said George Edwards, rank and file leader and co-coordinator for Pennsylvania Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees. "It's wonderful to see that our union has become what we fought for for so many years."

Throughout the first two days of the convention the power of rank and file mobilization was the thread which bound together the fabric of the union's programs.

Delegates considered and approved a resolution calling for the unification of the steelworkers, auto workers and machinists to create a new union by the year 2000. The USWA convention is the first of the three union conventions to debate the issue and formally approve unification.

"In today's real world in fighting the conglomerates with very diverse industries, it's hard to bring strong economic pressure against them," Becker said. "We have to be able to harness our strength and to be able to direct it in a way that's going to serve the members interest. This will be the largest, most powerful industrial union in North America."

Speaking for thousands of machinists, IAM president George Kourpias told the convention, "[Unification] evolved back in the 1950s and 1960s - in the board rooms of newly formed multinational corporations - corporations that rallied to the common cry of 'Divide and Conquer' when it pertained to their workers living standards and the basic needs of American workers and their families."

Auto Workers president , Steve Yokich brought down the house when he told delegates, "Wall Street is running this country and it's time we stop Wall Street from running this country. It's time we run this country. We fought its wars, we pay its taxes and we built this great nation. It's time we run this country."

Building the new union is taking place at all levels with the unions already working together on organizing campaigns, joint actions against Bridgestone/Firestone and political action. A 54-member advisory committee has been established, made up of 18 representatives from each union. The convention approved steelworkers representatives which includes local union officers and rank and file members from the U.S. and Canada.

The convention center grew quiet as former USWA President Lynn Williams framed tasks before steelworkers in the November elections. Careful to point out that fascism was not in the immediate offing, Williams recounted the origins of Nazi terror. "It is right that the Holocaust is associated with the murder of Jewish people by the Nazis. But Jewish people were not its only victims," Williams said. "First they went after the weak, the disadvantaged, the poor, the Social Democrats and Communists. Yes, and the Nazis murdered and imprisoned trade unionists in concentration camps," Williams continued. "Voting counts in both the U.S. and Canada. It is one of the fundamentals of our struggle to build a decent world, a society of hope and compassion for our children."